Harvey, Im not going into long eulogies of whats right and whats wrong, but my wife, a lovely Devonian girl, has a saying, Once a man, twice a boy. That sums us up. I agree with you totally. Barrie Carter , Ive done 80 miles since tuesday, Roundhsm, UK
From: Harvey Sachs <hmsachs@verizon.net> Subject: Re: [CR] bike budgets To: danevansdesign@yahoo.fr, "Classic Rendezvous" <classicrendezvous@bikelist.org> Date: Saturday, 1 January, 2011, 0:55
Dan, I think you'll find that's highly variable, a function of circumstances, personality, and even life stage.
I buy things that I really, really, want, and rarely sell bikes, probably only one every couple of years. I hope to hold the core of my collection, half a dozen to 10 bikes, until I can no longer ride and no longer want to play with them. By which time the original price I paid won't matter a whit. I regard our home as a home, not an investment, and treat the bikes the same way.
I've been gratified with gifts from list members of things I needed - or wanted. And, having stuff that's accumulated over the decades, I've tried to help some folks out from time to time, at reasonable prices.
Others find that "marital capital" considerations require that the habit pay for itself, and that's fine, too. One good buddy seems to have an implicit agreement with his spouse that the total count of bikes shall remain less than some fixed constant. And that works for them, eh?
Glad you've found a strategy that works for you.
harvey sachs mcLean VA +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Dan Evans wrote: my question is how much do you spend in an average year on bikes, bits and pieces?
i tend to buy and sell to pay for all the good things that i want to keep. so overall i think i have maybe spent 1500 euros from the start of my collecting (two years ago) and have probably made about the same selling things but also financed my entire collection at the same time. this has worked great for me having no money. i have been very lucky in finding some real bargins too and selling other bargins for premium prices.
it would be interesting to find out about other collectors methods.